The present invention relates to a cylinder head sealing element for a reciprocating piston engine, especially an internal combustion engine, and advantageously an engine having cylinder liners, whereby an end of a cylinder liner that faces the cylinder head is provided with a collar that has a centering means and also has an annular rib that is concentric to the cylinder liner, with the cylinder head, across from this rib, being provided with an annular groove that is concentric to the rib, and whereby when the cylinder head screws are tightened, the preferably metallic sealing element of constant thickness penetrates into the groove and is penetrated by the rib, accompanied by plastic deformation of the sealing element.
Applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 4,867,118, issued Sept. 19, 1989, discloses a cylinder head sealing arrangement for wet cylinder liners, with a metallic sealing element of constant thickness being disposed between a collar of the cylinder liner and a cylinder head. The collar has a raised, annular rib, and the cylinder head has a groove that is disposed across from this rib and is concentric thereto. When the cylinder head screws are tightened, the rib penetrates into the sealing element, and the sealing element in turn penetrates into the groove, accompanied by plastic deformation of the sealing element. To center the sealing element on the collar of the cylinder liner, a groove is provided in the sealing element facing the raised rib of the cylinder liner. Unfortunately, such a sealing element is too expensive due to the increased cost for manufacturing the groove in the sealing element.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to improve a sealing element of the aforementioned general type in such a way that the sealing element can be centered without additional manufacturing costs and without having to worry about an unacceptable effect upon the cylinder liner.